Ph.D. Program in Literary and Cultural Studies

Course Distribution for Literary and Cultural Studies Concentration

There are two course requirements for all students in the LCS concentration; the rest of your courses are electives. Therefore, to create a coherent program of study, you need to meet regularly with the Chair of your advisory committee. Your electives should be selected in close consultation with your Chair. The Graduate Liaison is also available for all advising questions before and after you select a Chair.

A doctoral student must declare a primary and a secondary area chosen from the specialties available among the faculty. With the approval of your advisory committee, you may choose Composition/Rhetoric/Literacy as a secondary area. A student's advisory committee may also allow a student to develop a secondary area in a discipline other than English (such as history, philosophy, art history, music history, etc.), with appropriate graduate level coursework in another department. Your advisory committee will be constituted by four members from within the department (including your Chair) and one from outside the department.

Required Courses

One course (3 hours) in Literary Criticism and Theory
This course must be at the 5000 or 6000 level, and It must be other than criticism courses taken for the M.A. If a Ph.D. student has not done the equivalent of our Literary Criticism (Engl 5313) course at the M.A. level, then that course should be used to fulfill this requirement. No directed readings allowed.

One course (3 hours) in Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy
This course can be English 5113 if not used for M.A. program.


Elective Courses

Nine courses (27 hours) in the Concentration at the 5000 or 6000 level.*

*If you and the Chair of your committee decide there are good reasons for taking a 4000 level course within the English department, a graduate course outside the department, or a directed reading within or outside the department, you may petition the Graduate Committee to take such classes. All petitions must be accompanied by a letter or email of support from the Chair of your committee. If a student wishes to develop a secondary area in a discipline other than English, then the advisory committee may require him or her to take two 5000 level courses (6 hours), as well as additional graduate courses, outside the department. (NB: only three directed readings in total within the English department count towards a Ph.D.)

In the semester before General Exams, all students must fill out an Advisory Conference Report and file it with the Graduate College. Please see the link below on General Exams for more information.

Total credit for Required and Elective courses: 33 hours
Credit for Directed Readings for General Examination: 3-6 hours
Total credit for Ph.D in Literary and Cultural Studies: 90 hours beyond B.A.

An advising form for the Ph.D. in Literary and Cultural studies may be found here.